Dreary, A Past Life
by Tricky Nikki
Summary: Nadia Katara is a new teacher at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Will she be accepted and forgiven for her past? Or be glared down for the rest of the school year.


Dreary, that was the mood set that day at Hogwarts. Outside, during sundown, the sky was taken over by dark, rain filled clouds. Yes it was a very dreary day indeed. The halls of Hogwarts were empty. The New Year for students has yet to start.  
  
Walking down the hallway was Nadia Katara, a new professor at the school of witchcraft and wizardry. Wearing a Hogwarts embroidered white turtle neck shirt with leather pants and huge black flapping robes, platinum blonde hair, with dark black tips streaked in, you would never expect this young looking 30-something-year-old witch to be a teacher.  
  
With books in one hand and a wand in the other, she made her way down the dark, fire lighten hall, passing open doors with heads popping out them as she went along. Nadia has been well known for her striking beauty and past beaus.  
  
As she turned and made her way into the dark classroom, she took out her want, pointed it up at a right angle, and shouted, "IGNUS!" Just then a bolt of fire spat out her wand and made its way across the dark and dreary room, lighting all the torches it came across, then died out as it came close to Nadia.  
  
She made her way to her desk, closing the door behind her, set down the books, and took a deep breath and looked at the empty classroom. It wouldn't be to long now. It wouldn't be to long till she had a full classroom with new, excited students.  
  
The next morning, Nadia awoke to the sound of her pet owl, Sadie -a beautiful white snow owl-, flapping her wings at the window as if she were trying to knock. Nadia could see a letter in her claws. Surely there was some mistake; Sadie must have grabbed something she thought was food again. No one knew how to get in touch with her. She had been out of reach for years.  
  
Nadia, curiously, but willingly, opened the window and let Sadie in. Sadie flew to the edge of Nadia's bedpost and perched herself, breathing heavily, as if she had been out flying for days. Nadia took the letter from Sadie's claws, hands trembling and all. Who could it be from? How would they have known she was a teacher at Hogwarts now?  
  
She opened up the sealed flap and slowly removed the letter, neglecting to look at the front to see the sender; she was too terrified, and slowly started reading the letter:  
  
Nadia,  
  
I know it has been a while since we last spoke. And I,  
  
being who I am, thought it would be easy to find you.  
  
Where have you been all these years? I have  
  
worried terribly. If you get this letter I so wish to hear  
  
from you..  
  
It stopped. No "sincerely yours", no "love always". nothing, not even a name. Nadia quickly turned the envelope over, hoping for a name, but alas, it was blank, as blank as the look on her face.  
  
Surely it wasn't. it couldn't of been from, you-know-who. The one for whom she had been loyal to for so long. Or could it.. could it have been from Lucius Malfoy? Nadia seriously doubted it; he had long since gone back to Narcissa.  
  
Or maybe.. just maybe. Sirius Black? Could it be? The man who had played tricks on her all through school? Tormenting her with his silly games? Or could it have been the Sirius that she had once loved dearly and would of given anything for him not to have been taken away to Azkaban. No, it couldn't have been Sirius; no one had seen him since his return to Hogwarts, since his return to help his godson, Harry.  
  
"HARRY!" Nadia shouted. She had forgotten all about him coming to Hogwarts. She quickly ran to her class roster to see if he was in her class this year. "Wilma Palmer, Scott Peterson, Harry Potter!" There he was, in black and white letters on her class roster.  
  
Harry Potter. the only one that was able to stop Voldermort. The only one able to stop her master, well, old master anyway. She now had a new master, headmaster at least. Dumbledore. the one who had seen that she had changed over the past years. Dumbledore, the one who gave her a life back.  
  
Nadia looked out at the open window at the beautiful historic Hogwarts campus. Then looked slightly down, at the letter.. from god knows who. She walked over and examined the letter once more, trying to find a sender. How would she reply? Sure she could give a letter to Sadie and let her take it to whoever sent it. But what would she write? Nadia sighed and stuffed the letter in the top drawer of her dresser.  
  
She looked up at Sadie, and grinned ear to ear. "Know what today is?" Sadie gave a soft "Woot" as if she knew what Nadia was talking about. "That's right," she said, still grinning, "Today's the day I meet all of my other co-workers".  
  
She put her big black robes on over her long black dress, dripping with strings, and went out the door and headed down the hallway, thinking. "Would the other witches and wizards accept me?". Nadia wasn't exactly proud of her past, but still, if Dumbledore forgave and forgot, surely they would be able to too. Wouldn't they?  
  
As she made her way down the hall, she could hear distant voices. Her heart started pounding, and thoughts about them crossed her mind. "What will they think? Will they stare? Will they reject me?" More and more thoughts came to her as she got closer which made her heart pound harder and harder. Finally, she could see a gleaming light up room and hear more and more voices. Finally, she was there, standing at the door, trying to work up enough courage to go in.  
  
"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" said a voice behind her. It was a dark and sour voice that sent shivers down her spine. She slowly turned around, catching a glimpse of a dark, deep black robe. She looked up to revile the speakers face.  
  
"E-e-excuse me? . Do I know you?" Nadia asked, calmly.  
  
"Why you should." Replied the dark stranger; "we went to the very same school for 7 years, and after that, served the very same person."  
  
Nadia stared at his face, and his deep stone black eyes. "Severus?".." Severus Snape?" Nadia trembled. could it be Severus?  
  
"I'm so glad you remembered me, Nadia," said Severus with a sarcastic, cold voice.  
  
"Well, was I suppose to?" Nadia replied.  
  
"Guess not, I haven't heard from you in over 5 years" he remarked.  
  
Nadia said nothing; she had little recognition of what went on when she was younger, or for that matter, who she worked with in the past. Her mind now, seemed like a dark, black hole from those days, only remembering faces, and the names that went with them. Nadia turned away from Snape, and walked slowly into the Great Hall, hoping he wouldn't say anything else, which he didn't.  
  
As she made her way up the large, open room to the tables ahead, she noticed Dumbledore, with his long, white beard and beautiful robes and Professor Mcgonagall, with her large witch hat, and small smirk on her face. Luckily, she knew they would not have let her in if they didn't accept her already.  
  
And there sat the other teachers, all staring at her, with confused and mad faces. She knew right then and there, this might be a living hell, she should of never applied for the job, and she should of never come back to Hogwarts.  
  
She took a seat next to someone who seemed to look like a giant. She stared in awe and amusement. What was he doing here? Was he a teacher? All this would be answered soon enough. She can tell she was one of the "newbies" all the other teachers were having conversations about the past year and what they did over the summer, even Severus, who has taken a seat across the long stretch of tables from her.  
  
All were having a great time seeing each other again, and having a ball spilling rumors about the "newest teacher". Nadia just sat there, with a blank look on her face. She knew she didn't belong there. She wanted to go home, she wanted to get away from everyone.  
  
Dumbledore stood up and tapped his glass, "Settle down, settle down everyone."  
  
Nadia tried glancing over at him, but the large man sitting beside her distracted her view.  
  
Dumbledore started speaking again, "As you all now know, we have two new teachers this year, Professor Moody, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Professor Katara, our new Muggle Studies professor. Please treat them both with respect and welcome them into out new family".  
  
"Name's Hagrid, pleaser ta meet ya." the large man leaned over and whispered.  
  
"Err- Hello." she said back, with a tremble in her voice.  
  
"Don't be afraid of these teachers, they don't really know how ta deal with ya. After all the bad things we've heard about 'cha, none of us really know how to come up to ya and say "Hello"".  
  
"Well," said Nadia, "i'm glad I decided to sit by you".  
  
She smiled at Hagrid. They both let out a little chuckle underneath their breaths. Nadia let out a sigh of relief. Now she had a friend, well two, if she were to ever patch things up with Snape.  
  
The whole dinner through, she talked with Hagrid. He seemed to make her feel safe because she told him a lot of things she had never told anyone before. Trying hard to steer clear of "you-know-who" she talked about where she had been for the past couple of years. Hagrid seemed very intrigued. Maybe now, if he knows she's not under his spell anymore, he can get the good word around about her. Hopefully.  
  
When Nadia was done with her meal, and talking to Hagrid, she decided to take a walk around the old campus. Eventually, she walked outside, and gazed at the sky, which now was under the spell of a beautiful sunset, with magnificent colors beaming this way and that.  
  
She took a seat under a tree and slipped off her large robes, reviling her smooth tan skin, and mark on her forearm. She watched the sun disappear over the giant blue ocean. She thought about what this year was going to be like, how she would make friends, and how she would eventually find out who wrote her that letter.  
  
***Finally, it the first day of school. Nadia had her books in order, her seat charts made out, her wand polished up, not that she would need it, she was teaching Muggle Studies after all, one of the most boring classes when she was little. But, she wanted to change all of that; she had made a goal for herself that this year would be the best time her students would have in this class.  
  
Nadia was sitting down at her desk and staring out of the window, watching the students arrive. She glanced down at her desk drawer that was slightly open. She saw that letter that she had received poking out of it, as if it was calling her to look at it.  
  
Nadia opened the drawer up and took out the letter. She studied it some more, trying not to give up hope she would find out a way to tell who it came from. But nothing ever showed up that would clue her in.  
  
She looked over at Sadie, who was perched on her desk, looking very sleepy. Nadia petted her head and smiled. No matter what happens, this year would be the turn around of her life.  
  
Looking out the window, she could see more and more students arriving. So she decided to walk herself down to the Great Hall to take a seat to see them all. She had yet to try a conversation with anyone, but Hagrid of course, who has been the only one to talk to her since her arrival, well, except for Snape.  
  
When she finally got down to the Great Hall, she made her way upwards, towards the staff's table. She could already see that students were pouring in as she took her seat, next to Hagrid, of course.  
  
"Wilma, Durst, Helen" she thought to herself, she has already memorized some of the faces and names from her roll book. "Ron, Hermione, and.Harry".  
  
There he was, the boy who lived, a skinny, underfed boy with shabby black hair and a scar on his forehead. None-the-less from. "You Know Who", Nadia had now become a costumed to that name. Not wanting to say Voldemort to scare anyone, that name seemed to make it better. But she really couldn't understand why, it was the same person; just by covering up his name. How could that make it better?  
  
There she went again, thinking about him, and her horrible, dark past. Trying to take her mind off of it, she looked around the room at the new faces.  
  
She couldn't help but notice the small group of boys sitting at the Slytherin table, looking at her. There was a boy, with bright blonde, slicked back hair, and two very overly weight boys that were sitting there, talking, and then looking back up at her.  
  
"That's Draco Malfoy", Hagrid said, leaning over, "Lucius Malfoy's Son."  
  
Nadia mumbled, "I of all people should have recognized him then."  
  
"What was that?" Hagrid asked.  
  
"Oh nothing," replied Nadia, "He looks so much like him, don'tcha think?"  
  
"I guess so." Hagrid said, with his deep voice "I don't like much of both of em' really, they both seem like bad souls in my eyes."  
  
Just then, the doors opened, and the first years walked in. One by one, they were sat down, and sorted into their houses.  
  
When the final one was done, Dumbledore stood up, and with a clap of his hands, a colorful, delicious looking feast appeared before them. But for some reason, Nadia didn't feel much like eating, so she slowly stood up, and walked out the back door of the Great Hall and made her way into the hallways.  
  
She walked outside; sat under that tree that she did the second day she arrived, and stared out into the great sky. She sat there, for nearly an hour, gazing at the now, dark and star filled sky. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming near her. Too content with the beauty of the night sky, she didn't turn to look at who it was.  
  
"What are you doing out here?" the voice asked, it was Snape.  
  
"Nothing." She replied, staring out.  
  
"You should have stayed in the Great Hall." Snape said, sitting down next to her, barley missing touching her robes.  
  
"Whys that?" she asked.  
  
"Just to get to know them better I guess." He replied.  
  
They both sat there for a while, not saying anything, it was a really quite awkward silence. Snape couldn't take it anymore he had to ask.  
  
"Where were you at for the past 4 years?" he asked, very impatiently.  
  
"Hiding I guess, from everyone, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't reason with them." She said, "So I just pretty much thought "the hell with it" and took in hiding."  
  
"What made you come here?" he said, blankly.  
  
"I dunno, got tired of hiding I guess." She replied.  
  
"Well I'm going back up to my office to lock up, hopefully I'll have another run in with you." He said, getting up.  
  
Nadia sat, there, watching him get up. "Wait!" she yelled after him.  
  
"I want you to know, ever since we parted ways back then, I've thought about you almost every day since" she said, flatly, not looking for a respond.  
  
"As have I." Snape said, with a dark grin on his face. 


End file.
